Monday, October 12, 2009

Here is an article that should outrage all U.S. citizens. In "States of Personal Privilege" posted last week in the Wall Street Journal online, Kimberley Strassel exposes the special provisions that have been inserted into the Baucus health care bill in order to secure its passage in the Senate Finance Committee. From the article:

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is worried about losing his seat next year, worked out a deal by which the federal government will pay all of his home state's additional Medicaid expenses for the next five years. Under the majority leader's very special formula, only three other states—Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan—qualify for this perk, on the grounds, as Mr. Reid put it recently on the Senate floor, that they "are suffering more than most." "

Putting aside the beltway arrogance that we have come to expect, has anyone in Washington given one thought to the oath of office that all Senators take when they are sworn in? It goes something like this:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
I am not a constitutional scholar, but this provision and the other sneaky deals Strassel describes in the article appear to me clearly unconstitutional. Article I, Section 8 of our Constitution states "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts andExcisesshall be uniform throughout the United States; (emphasis mine)

The uneven application of the burden of the trillion dollar health care experiment to the states should provide a strong basis for being overturned by the SCOTUS, if this monstrosity really is passed into law.